Dalai Lama embraces trooper who escorted him in 1959

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama got emotional yesterday as he embraced one of the five Assam Rifles troopers who escorted him in India after his escape from Tibet.In 1959, as a young trooper, Naren Chandra Das, now 80, escorted the Dalai Lama, now 82, on his arrival in Arunachal Pradesh. The Dalai Lama has lived in exile ever since fleeing Tibet in March 1959.“I feel blessed once again as His Holiness touched me and bumped his head with my head,” Das told reporters after he was honoured by the leader at an event in Dharamsala to mark the 60th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s arrival in India.Das said he was overwhelmed by the gesture of the Dalaui Lama for inviting him. The event marked the onset of a year-long ‘Thank You India’ campaign.Federal Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, MPs Shanta Kumar and Satyavrat Chaturvedi were also present in the event along with officials of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), comprising its president Lobsang Sangay.In 2017, Das was reunited with the Dalai Lama for the first time in 58 years at a festival organised by the Assam government.Das, who joined the force in 1957, said he was told to escort the Dalai Lama along with others. “We were directed only to escort the Dalai Lama and not to speak with him,” said Das.He was then posted at Lungla near the China border after having completed his training at Tawang in the then North East Frontier Agency, now Arunachal Pradesh, he said.Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Madhav, speaking the event said India had always hosted people in difficult times with an open heart.“We know the life of a refugee is very tough...we hosted many people in trouble. India always welcomes with open arms and with an open heart those in difficulty.”He said: “We don’t want to use the word refugee (for you). This is your land. At the most, you are in exile and Tibet is waiting for you.”Madhav said India also gave shelter to Jews and Parsis.“India has always played an affectionate and endearing host to all those who chose its lands as temporary home and spiritual abode. Jews came, Parsis came and many others too landed in India seeking refuge. India has welcomed them with open arms and with an open heart.”Linking the bondage the Tibetans have from India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the incumbent Narendra Modi, he said: “Right from Nehru to Modi, the successive governments in India have followed One China Policy at political level.”